New Next-reef sump and Coralife Protein Skimmer

It’s been a long time since I have updated my blog and there have been some changes that I need to tell you guys about. This is a little video I put together for you along with an audio commentary. Hope you all enjoy.

Moving My Aquarium

Moving My Aquarium

So I recently moved about 10 hours from where i was previously living with my family and my difficult to move aquarium. I figured I would take the time to explain how I moved everything and ill go into what to do and what not to do when moving a tank. Since i already moved and set the tank back up i don't have any pictures of the progress, but I will try to explain in detail the best I can. 

My tank in a nutshell;

 125 gal tank

55 gal tank as a refugium

150 lbs of live rock 

Coral 

I decided to move the tank and set it back up as fast as possible so the tank was the last thing that went into the moving truck and the first thing out. when taking down the tank I filled up a 55 gallon drum with the salt water then filled up a few 5 gallon buckets about half way so that i could put the rocks with the corals into those buckets. then put the rest of the rocks into empty 5 gallon buckets with just a little bit of water then capped them off. All of the fish i put into individual bags just like they come from the fish store.

- I got the bags from a website that sells just fish transport supplies.

I then put the sand into buckets then moved the tank and stand into the moving truck then put all the buckets into my car so that the water, rocks, corals, and fish would stay at a good temp. As soon as it was all loaded up i started my 10 hour drive. Once i arrived at my new house i immediately started to set the tank back up. 

I started by putting the tank into place with some help of course. I then put all the sand and rock in first then  poured the water from the 55 gallon tub into the tank. i had to make a lot of salt water to replace the water i didn't bring with me. so once it was almost full I was able to start the pumps and heaters to get the filter working and heat up the water to a good temp. At this point i started putting all the fish into one big bin with a slow drip to acclimate the fish to the new water. while i was waiting on that i put al the rocks with corals into the tank.I then put all the fish into the tank. 

Problems: 

the only problems i had were with one fish. once i put them all together to acclimate them i started to notice that blue tang was getting picked on a little. it wasn't until the fish was put into the tank that i realized the extent of it. He was beaten up pretty bad and only lasted a few more days before he died, but on the upside i didn't loose anything else. 

Things to do: 

Make sure to add the rock first then the sand then the water in that order. this will ensure a few different things. it will ensure the rocks are stably stacked with a solid surface. then putting the sand in before the water will make the water less cloudy when doing the last step of pouring water in the tank. 

when moving i would recommend that you put the livestock in a car or suv with you so that you may keep it all at a good temp. 

Things not to do: 

I wouldn't recommend putting all the fish into a single bin when moving them. they will become very stressed and may become hostile towards each other. Best bet is to keep them separate while acclimating them back into the tank. 

Ignore the following....

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